Guardian Hull Reinforcements useful?

[foxoplasma]

I unlocked a whole bunch of Guardian stuff and went fighting a Thargoid for the first time, solo, in a krait, with shard cannons...

one rebuy and one retreat later, i finally managed to crack a Cyclops by myself!!!

...but at 3% hull, it definitely could have gone better.

Engineered, stacked with HRPs and military hull, i only got the krait to around 3000 integrity, which as you can see didn't leave great margin for error, at least not with shard cannons.

I do have Guardian HRPs unlocked though, and while they DO give significantly lower integrity than engineered HRPs, would the 20~ percent damage resistance do a better job at keeping me alive?

Anyone here have experience or numbers with these? And in general, what IS the best way to keep your health up when solo?
I did hear a fighter is useful to distract the thargon swarm, but I couldn't add one of those to my Krait without tossing a 5D reinforcement, so I have the feeling you're not really intended to fight them solo anyway.

 

[Kamiyoda]

I unlocked a whole bunch of Guardian stuff and went fighting a Thargoid for the first time, solo, in a krait, with shard cannons...

one rebuy and one retreat later, i finally managed to crack a Cyclops by myself!!!




...but at 3% hull, it definitely could have gone better.

Engineered, stacked with HRPs and military hull, i only got the krait to around 3000 integrity, which as you can see didn't leave great margin for error, at least not with shard cannons.

I do have Guardian HRPs unlocked though, and while they DO give significantly lower integrity than engineered HRPs, would the 20~ percent damage resistance do a better job at keeping me alive?

Anyone here have experience or numbers with these? And in general, what IS the best way to keep your health up when solo?
I did hear a fighter is useful to distract the thargon swarm, but I couldn't add one of those to my Krait without tossing a 5D reinforcement, so I have the feeling you're not really intended to fight them solo anyway.

Considering my first solo ended with me killing it then drifting into the cloud after immediately losing power and dying to caustic damage after about 5 minutes. Then the next runs i didnt even lose shields with the same setup, I think you just need practice. Cyclops arent THAT tough.

Without much details on your ship though I would say lose the Shard cannons and go with Gauss cannons so you can sniper the interceptor at range and not have to deal with the lightning attack everytime you dealt damage. The Kraits shields and hull are realatively thin, you cant tank that kind of damage, you want to stay mobile and dictate the terms of the engagement with your speed.

Amd I highly recommend the a class 6 fighter bay, with it you dont even need flak against a cyclops. The swarm will keep trying to hit it and usually fail, plus it hel0s distract the Thargoid when you need it.

 

[foxoplasma]

Without much details on your ship though I would say lose the Shard cannons and go with Gauss cannons so you can sniper the interceptor at range and not have to deal with the lightning attack everytime you dealt damage

Yeah, i have heard gauss cannons are super meta, but i got bad aim (especially with a joystick) and i hate managing heat, but i can totally agree on it being a much better choice to stay far away

 

[Kamiyoda]

Yeah, i have heard gauss cannons are super meta, but i got bad aim (especially with a joystick) and i hate managing heat, but i can totally agree on it being a much better choice to stay far away

Im on PS4 with a dualshock 4 and I thought the same, they are surprising easy to hit though, and if you really need to you can just get up into shard cannon range and shoot it like that.

I never really found heat to be a super serious issue with them and I run 4. I usually just alternant fire between the two and it takes about 2 trigger pulls to bring out a heart and 2 to destroy it. Then I fly away and deploy my SLF while I kind just... do whatever until the shield comes down or I feel impatient and poke the thargoid.

If your worred about it though, keep 2 of the shard cannons, replace the flak launchers with gauss, then put a flak on the remaining large hardpoint.

 

[TheOriginalB]

Yeah, i have heard gauss cannons are super meta, but i got bad aim (especially with a joystick) and i hate managing heat, but i can totally agree on it being a much better choice to stay far away

The Interceptors are big enough that hitting them with the Gauss Cannons is a lot easier that it would initially seem. It'll take some practice, but it'll be worth it. Make sure your power plant is as efficient as possible, though, in terms of heat dissipation, and heat sinks are always useful to have on board.

 

[BDelacroix]

Im on PS4 with a dualshock 4 and I thought the same, they are surprising easy to hit though, and if you really need to you can just get up into shard cannon range and shoot it like that.

I never really found heat to be a super serious issue with them and I run 4. I usually just alternant fire between the two and it takes about 2 trigger pulls to bring out a heart and 2 to destroy it. Then I fly away and deploy my SLF while I kind just... do whatever until the shield comes down or I feel impatient and poke the thargoid.

If your worred about it though, keep 2 of the shard cannons, replace the flak launchers with gauss, then put a flak on the remaining large hardpoint.

Now see, I never tried launching a fighter. I get 1 heart maybe 2 but most of the time I am hitting the lightning and getting beaten up by the swarm that I can't seem to get with the flak guns.

I watched blind pew smack a cyclops in a new krait, and he basically face tanked the lightning. I hadn't tried that, either.

On the other hand, I haven't had issues with heat either. I have 2 gauss and 2 plasma on the cutter (and 2 flak).

 

[Urazz]

If anything, I think Plasma Chargers are more useful than Shard Cannons since you can actually use them at longer ranges. If they didn't use so much power, then they'd be a lot more appealing I think.

 

[Kamiyoda]

Now see, I never tried launching a fighter. I get 1 heart maybe 2 but most of the time I am hitting the lightning and getting beaten up by the swarm that I can't seem to get with the flak guns.

I watched blind pew smack a cyclops in a new krait, and he basically face tanked the lightning. I hadn't tried that, either.

On the other hand, I haven't had issues with heat either. I have 2 gauss and 2 plasma on the cutter (and 2 flak).

From what I here you need to lead the Swarm with the flak. The indicator isnt that great sadly.

What is your hull and shield values looking like? My Krait has around 2000 in both with 20% Caustic resistance

 

[BDelacroix]

My shield is 3529 and my hull is 1849. No caustic resist. I have the wrong hull reinforcement on today. Its been one of those evenings. First had the wrong weapons, then forgot to bring my pilot then I noticed I forgot to get limpets. Tried escape pod rescue and none of the limpets I did get were the right kind, though from what I read the hatch breakers should have worked.

Not to mention that the collecters spent their time bashing into the side of the megaship.

 

[Cmdr Ultra]

...but at 3% hull, it definitely could have gone better.
.

Epic way to finish though. Must have felt great. Well done.

 

[IceFire122]

Engineered, stacked with HRPs and military hull, i only got the krait to around 3000 integrity, which as you can see didn't leave great margin for error, at least not with shard cannons.

I do have Guardian HRPs unlocked though, and while they DO give significantly lower integrity than engineered HRPs, would the 20~ percent damage resistance do a better job at keeping me alive?

Anyone here have experience or numbers with these? And in general, what IS the best way to keep your health up when solo?

1. Well done.

2. The Guardian HRP give you caustic resistance, but cannot build up enough total resistance to compensate for the loss of total Hitpoints from removing high level engineered HRPs. Also, they need additional power, forcing you to go Guardian PP or high level PP engineering (causing more heat).

3. 3000 Integrity should be enough, even, if you lose your shields from time to time. Just remember to get out of range, when your shield drops and use the fighter/Flak to distract/kill the swarm. The swarm is, what kills your hull quickly.

4. If you eat a caustic missile, overheat to >170% either by firing gauss cannons (another reason to bring 2 or more gauss with you) or enabling silent running. The latter will kill your shields, though.

5. Don't go overboard with shield strength. If they drop and chances are, that they will, rebuilding them will take longer. Also, a class 6 SCB only recharge 368 MJ of your shields and you additionally need heat sinks. I removed my SCB/heat sink and switched to class 6 fighter hangar to have more fighter coverage.

6. Engineer for hit points (reinforced/heavy duty) not resistances. Exception: Biweave is better than standard/prismatic long term, as might need to recharge/rebuild your shields.

EDIT: This worked for me (large Plasma Chargers not available in edcd, yet): Krait

The Burst laser will probably get changed to a Remote Flak. Xeno Scanner can be exchanged to a Heat Sink Launcher.

 

[TheMegaTurnip]

As far as im aware OP the GMRP are the only part thats a straight upgrade to all occasions (inc PvP) For bugs, the GHRP's are probaby superior as they yeild anti caustic properties...

But then i've yet to kill me a bug so i couldnt tell you 100%

 

[Karamon]

class 6 and 7 SCB engineered to specialised+boss cell don't require heat sinks to use them

 

[zimms]

class 6 and 7 SCB engineered to specialised+boss cell don't require heat sinks to use them

That seems to be too general of a statement. I'll probably take a look.

 

[Karamon]

That seems to be too general of a statement. I'll probably take a look.

Test it out yourself , yes i was away for 2 months so that is 2 months old info but didn't notice in any path notes info about nerf to heat on SCB .

Every SCB lower than class 8 with specialised mod and if you were not using any other heat generating modules like boost or weapons was running below 100% heat

 

[zimms]

and if you were not using any other heat generating modules like boost or weapons

That's what I meant. So in theory you don't need heat sinks, but in reality you're using SCBs during combat.

 

[space voyager]

Every SCB lower than class 8 with specialised mod and if you were not using any other heat generating modules like boost or weapons was running below 100% heat

Damn, keep getting new useful info. Now is the right time, being on the way to Colonia, HUH?! Thanks, at least now I know SCBs have a reason to be engineered.